Cable guide



United States Patent Frank J. Kowack Oceanside, N.Y.

Sept. 4, 1968 Dec. 29, 1970 Columbian Slides Inc.

Freeport, N.Y.

a corporation of New York Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 562,679, July 5, 1966, now Patent No. 3,428,369.

[72] Inventor [21 Appl. No. [22] Filed [45] Patented [73] Assignee [54] CABLE GUIDE 4 Claims, 9 Drawing Figs.

Primary Examiner-Harvey C. Hornsby Attorney-March, Gillette & Wyatt ABSTRACT: A cable guide consists of 2 arms with a bridge portion shaped in the form of a circular segment having a groove in which a cable can slide. One or more fingers are provided to retain the cable in the groove.

CABLE cums The present application is a continuation in-part of copending US Pat. application, Ser. No. 562,679, filed July 5, 1966 for Arrangement for Telescoping Slides," now Pat. No. 3,428,369.

The present application relates to a cable guide and more particularly to a cable guide for use in extensible tables, drawers, files and similar articles.

Slides applicable to extensible tables, drawers, files and similar such articles, are well known in the art. In the development of such slides, it has been found that their utility is much enhanced if the slides are arranged so that when one of the channel members is moved toward extending or contracting the slide, all other channel members respond to such action and move automatically in a corresponding manner toward extending or contracting the slide. This particular feature is also useful when the slide is applied to pedestal type of tables, where any unbalance in the movement of the slide may cause the table to tilt.

Heretofore, arrangements for thus equalizing the movements of slides were comprised or combinations of gears, racks and pinions. These arrangements were unsatisfactory because the gears and pinions would drop out of mesh, the racks and pinions would often jam, and the mating teeth of the gears, racks and pinions, would often chip or break and'exhibit excessive wear.

Telescoping slides heretofor known applicable to extensible tables, drawers, files and similar articles have in some cases been controlled by cable means. A difficulty, however, has been the possibility of malfunction due to dislocation of the cable from its channel.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide improved cable guide means. Another object is to provide cable guide means which insures maintaining the cable in its channel. Another object is to provide an economical, easily produced cable guide means. A further object is to provide cable guide means which has no moving parts. Still another object is to provide cable guide means which may be constructed from a single strip of material. These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description. i

It has now been found that a cable guide which achieves the objects of the present invention is obtained by a guide having two arms with a bridging portion joining the arms. The bridging portion is shaped in the form of acircular segment having a groove in which a cable can slide. One or more finger means are provided to maintain the cable in the groove. The finger means are formed from a partly cutout section of an arm or from a partly cutout section of the bridging portion.

The invention is directed to a cable guide comprising two arms and a bridge portion joining the arms, the bridge portion having a groove adapted to receive a cable in slidable relation therein, and the bridge portion having at least one finger adapted to form a partial closure over the groove.

The invention is directed to such a cable guide wherein the groove has two sidewalls, each sidewall joined to at least one arm, and to such a guide wherein each sidewall is joined to two arms. The invention is directed to such a cable guide wherein a finger is formed from a sidewall. The invention is directed to such a cable guide wherein a finger is formed from each sidewall.

The invention is directed to such a cable guide wherein a finger is formed from an arm.

The invention is directed to such a cable formed from a single strip of material.

The guide means of the present invention are intended to guide a cable which effects movement of a slide member. The slide member is typically constructed of sheet metal channels which interlock with one anothenso as to permit the channel members to slide longitudinally in relation to one another. The ends of the channels are provided with guide means for guiding the cable along its directed path. The construction of the channel members and the arrangement of cable means to sure is incorporated herein by reference.

The invention will now be described with reference to the following drawings in which FIG. l-3 shows three embodiments of the invention FIG. Ia, 2a and 3a are each front elevations; FIGS. 1b, 2b and 3b are each side elevations; and FIGS. 1c, 2c and 3c are each plan views. FIGS. lb, 2b and 3b are, respectively, side views of FIGS. '10, 2a and 3a, while FIGS. 10, 2c and 3c are respectively, plan views of FIGS. la, 2a and 3a.

The cable guide means of the present invention consists of two arms 10, 1.1 with a bridging portion 12 joining the arms. The arms are intended for inserting into an end of the channel member. Bridging the arms of the cable guide means is a grooved arcuate segment 12 having portion 12a and 12b extending beyond the arms. To prevent: the cable from sliding from or riding out of the groove, finger 13 or fingers 13 and 14 are formed from a partly cutout section of the arms or a partly cutout section of the bridging portion. The finger or fingers are bent so as to overlie substantially all of the groove. The manner in which two fingers are bent: toward one another is shown in FIGS. 1b and 1c and 2a and 20. Alternatively, a finger may be cut out from only one arm as a shown in FIGS. Zia-3c. In this case, the finger is longer so that it overlies substantially all of the groove.

The cable guide means of the present invention may be provided with its arms disposed in various planes for positioning in channel members of varying construction. For example, the arms may be parallel to the cable groove as shown in FIGS. 1a- -1c and 3a3c, or the arms may be perpendicular to the cable groove as shown in FIGS. 2 a2c.

The arms of the guide means may be provided with holes as shown in FIGS. la and 2a. The holes may register with holes in the channel wall whereby the guide means may be firmly fastened to the walls. The arms may also be made of resilient material and separated before being inserted into the channel member so that they are securely fastened by exerting pressure against interior walls of the channel member without the need of further fastening devices. This embodiment is shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b wherein no holes are required in the cable guide means or in the wall of the channel member.

The manner in which a cable 15 is prevented from leaving the groove by means of finger member 13 is shown in FIG. 30.

While this invention has been. described in some detail, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the following claims.

Iclaim:

l. A cable guide for use with telescoping slides for extensible tables and the like to guide a cable to effect movement of the telescoping slide channel members comprising an integrally formed cable guide having a pair of arms extending therefrom in one direction each having one end adapted for insertion into the end of the channel member, a grooved arcuate segment extending as a bridge joining said arms, said arcuate segment having two sidewalls forrning said bridge, each said sidewall being rigidly fixed to at least one arm at the end opposite to that inserted into said channel member, said arcuate segment having a groove facing in a direction opposite to the direction in which said pair of arms extend and a finger extending from said arcuate segment and overlying said groove to prevent the cable from riding out of said groove, said finger extending in a direction away from said arms.

2. The cable guide of claim 1 wherein said arcuate segment in said groove extends in a direction perpendicular to said pair of arms.

3. The cable guide of claim 2 wherein said arms have holes for registering with holes in the channel wall for firmly fastening said cable guide to the channel walls.

4. The cable guide of claim 1 wherein said arms are resilient for insertion into said channel member to securely fasten said cable guide therein. 

